This open access book provides a deep dive into the digitalization and intelligent technologies transforming the field of aircraft engines, offering insights into their critical importance and the challenges they aim to address. As the aerospace industry faces increasing demands for efficiency, sustainability, and innovation, digital and intelligent technologies have become essential tools in advancing aircraft engine design, performance optimization, and lifecycle management. These technologies are reshaping the way engines are developed and maintained, enabling breakthroughs in predictive maintenance, real-time diagnostics, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. However, achieving these advancements comes with significant challenges, such as data integration, simulation accuracy, and the need for seamless coordination among multiple disciplines.
This book begins by examining the current state of digital engine technologies, highlighting their role in improving design efficiency, operational safety, and cost-effectiveness. Through a detailed analysis, it identifies critical obstacles, such as the complexity of integrating heterogeneous data, achieving high-fidelity simulations, and optimizing whole-system performance in multi-disciplinary contexts. Moving beyond diagnostics, the text explores innovative approaches like digital twin-based simulation modeling, which combines physical models with real-world data to accurately predict engine behavior. It also introduces advanced methods for creating enhanced whole-engine system models, enabling multi-disciplinary collaboration to ensure design reliability and efficiency. A significant portion of this book is dedicated to the concept of the digital thread, a framework that ensures consistent data integration and automated workflows throughout the engine lifecycle. By leveraging digital threads, engineers can streamline design iterations, reduce uncertainties, and improve overall product quality.
Xu Quanyong is an associate research fellow and digital engine scientist at Tsinghua University, holding a Ph.D. from Beihang University (2010). Since 2012, he has focused on aero engine research, exploring digital and intelligent transformation technology, multi-field coupling co-simulation, and high-load compressor aerodynamic design. He developed software for aero-engine aerodynamic thermodynamic massively parallel computing, applied in gas turbine and aero-engine performance simulation. Xu led the creation of the Tsinghua Digital Engine Simulation System (T-DESS), used in future aero engine development. He managed 15 research projects, published 38 papers, and holds 31 patents. Xu has won awards including the Geneva Invention Exhibition silver Award and industry-research cooperation Award.
Yang Jiali, male, graduated with a Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Tsinghua University in 2016. From 2016 to 2019, he conducted postdoctoral research at the same department. Between 2019 and 2022, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher and assistant researcher at the Institute for Aero Engine (IAE) of Tsinghua University, focusing on the research of a real-time model-driven immersive virtual operation system for aerospace engines. During this period, he served as the project leader for the virtual operation system of the Digital Engine Project (Phase I). Since December 2022, he has been working as an associate researcher, conducting research on multi-system co-simulation of digital engines, automatic generation of control code, and other related topics. He is currently the project leader for the system prototype of the Digital Engine Project (Phase II).
Cao Wenyu is a senior engineer at the Institute for Aerospace Propulsion, Tsinghua University, is the lead for the structural prototype of Tsinghua University’s Digital Engine Project. He has been engaged in the overall structural design and strength research of aerospace engines for an extended period. As the overall structural leader, he has participated in the development of multiple turbofan/turbojet engines and micro gas turbines. Additionally, he has been a key contributor to several major projects, including the National Science and Technology Project, the Chinese Academy of Sciences for Key Topics in Innovation Engineering. In the field of digital engineering, he is responsible for developing critical technologies for the digital thread of aerospace engines. His primary research areas include the integration and traceability of multi-source heterogeneous data across design, simulation, and manufacturing, MBSE-based integrated structural design and simulation, and configuration management based on physical systems.
Dr. Hu Zhongzhi is currently the chief researcher of Institute for Aero Engine of Tsinghua University. He was once the deputy director of the R&D center of China Aero-Engine Commercial Development and the deputy chief designer of the large passenger engine project. Previously, he served as a chief engineer, project manager, research manager, and department manager at General Electric Company in the United States. Before entering the academic field, he has more than 20 years of experience in the design, development, integration, testing, and airworthiness certification of aeroengine control systems and health management systems both domestically and internationally. The current research areas are multi-disciplinary modeling and simulation of aeroengine control systems, multivariable and multimodal fault-tolerant control, intelligent health management, and MBSE method research and application. He has more than 20 domestic and foreign patents and has published more than 60 papers.
Yuqing Zhu is an Assistant Research Professor at Tsinghua University (Ph.D., Computer Science). She leads multimodal data management research at the National Engineering Research Center for Big Data Software and spearheaded IGInX, which topped TPC's authoritative global performance rankings in Feb 2025, delivering 2.9× the performance of Alibaba Cloud’s Lindorm. She has 30+ top-tier publications (first/corresponding author) and 20+ patents; her Industrial IoT data management inventions won the Gold Medal at the 48th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva (2023). She serves on the editorial boards of Scientific Reports and Sensor Review.
List of the chapter authors
C1 Title: Current Status, Challenges and Key Issues of Digital Engine Technology
Authors: Hu Zhongzhi, Cao Wenyu , He Ai , Yu Jianwei, Liu Kai, Yang Jiali, and Xu Quanyong
C2 Title: Simulation Modeling Method for Aero Engines Based on Digital Twins
Author: Xu Quanyong
C3 Title: Enhanced Model of a Whole Aircraft Engine System
Author: Yang Jiali
C4 Title: Research on a Construction Method for Digital Thread Based on a Central Semantic Model
Author: Cao Wenyu
C5 Title: Research on an Overall Performance Calculation Method for the Turbofan Zero-Dimensional/Three-Dimensional Cross-dimensional Model
Author: Xu Quanyong
C6 Title: Nonlinear Identification Method for Aircraft Engine Component Health Parameters Based on Proximate Operating Conditions
Author: Liu Kai
C7 Title: Auxiliary Generation Technology for Engine Model Code on the Basis of Prompt Engineering
Author: Yang Shubo
C8 Title: AI-Based Digital Maintenance Technology for Aircraft Engines
Author: He Ai
C9 Title: Data-Driven Intelligent Technology Empowers the Next Generation of Aircraft Engine Innovation
Author: Zhu Yuqing
